Computer technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, computers are used in almost all aspects of business, industry and academic endeavors. Improvements in computer technologies have been a force for bringing about great increases in business and industrial productivity. More and more homes are using computers as well.
There are many different kinds of computers in use today. The term “computer system” will be used herein to refer generally to any device or combination of devices that is capable of processing information to produce a desired result. Some examples of computer systems include personal computers, hand-held computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), servers, mainframes, supercomputers, minicomputers, workstations, microcomputers, microcontrollers, and the like.
The use of computer networks is prevalent in both homes and workplaces. Computer systems within a computer network may easily communicate with each other and share resources, such as printers and hard disk storage devices. Unfortunately, when a network is quite large, managing computing assets (i.e., hardware and software) can become extraordinarily cumbersome. In particular, it can be very difficult to determine what assets are included within the network. For example, if a network is large, it may be very difficult to determine whether all computer systems within the network have installed anti-virus software and whether the anti-virus software is up-to-date such that the network is secure against most types of virus attacks.
Fortunately, inventory systems have been developed that gather and organize inventory data in an automated fashion. The inventory services may assist a network administrator in determining which computer systems or software components of computer systems need to be upgraded or updated.
Some inventory services may be distributed throughout various locations within a network to allow ease of access. For example, the inventory services may be positioned at various servers within a network. Updating these distributed inventory services such that they contain the most recent inventory data can be cumbersome and can require significant network resources to perform this task. Furthermore, when the inventory data is stored at various locations, security can become an issue in that unauthorized parties may access the inventory information. In addition, the distributed inventory services often contain redundant information that is not needed at each server.
Accordingly, benefits may be realized by improved systems and methods for updating distributed inventory services. Some exemplary systems and methods for updating distributed network inventory services are described herein.